Insurance brokerages are experiencing generational change, but older principals are continuing to dominate the broking sector, according to a new report from Macquarie Relationship Banking.

Its 2011 Insurance Broking Benchmarking Report, which is compiled every two years, finds the average age of principals is 50, while 37% are aged over 55 and 23% 60 and older.

Only 15% of brokerage principals are women – a situation the survey compilers say should be examined to establish whether greater gender diversity would give the brokerage a competitive advantage.

The survey was compiled from questions directed to 230 brokers from a variety of companies.

It finds the “typical” Australian brokerage employs 11 staff – all but four of whom are client-facing – with each employee bringing in revenue of just over $165,000.

This is the third survey compiled by Macquarie Relationship Banking, and Division Director Paul Cilia says he expects this one to also be used to “shape the business strategies of many broking firms”.

The survey can be downloaded here. A report on its findings is also available in the latest edition of Insurance News (the magazine), which is being mailed out to subscribers this week.